The 66-year-old Norton woman who was shot a by a hunter in the woods behind her home on New Year’s Eve is now speaking out about the incident that left her maimed, in pain and unable to walk without the use of a cane.

The 66-year-old Norton woman who was shot a by a hunter in the woods behind her home on New Year’s Eve is now speaking out about the incident that left her maimed, in pain and unable to walk without the use of a cane.

Cheryl Blair said her life has been turned upside down by the incident, in which a .50-caliber lead ball blasted through her hip, shattered the top of her pelvis and pulverized all of the muscles that had allowed her to walk.

“It has been an ordeal that I wish that I didn’t have to go through,” said Blair, during a telephone interview on Saturday. “But it is what it is. I just have to fight as hard as I can to get my life back together.”

Blair was shot by John Bergeron, an off-duty state trooper who lives down the street, who told police that he was hunting when he mistook the tail of one of Blair’s dogs for that of a deer’s and fired his black-powder rifle in her direction. Blair was walking her two golden retrievers through the woods behind her home, which she said was a twice-daily routine for her for the past 25 years.

Now, Blair said she has been mostly confined to her home — barring short strolls around the backyard with her dogs — and she lamented that it has been a vast turnaround from her active lifestyle before the shooting incident. Blair approximated that last week, when she transitioned to the use of a cane after relying on a walker to get around the house, was a halfway mark in her road to recovery.

On Saturday and Sunday, however, she was able to enjoy the company of her family, including three children who serve in the military. Blair and the other women from her family prepared a ham and turkey dinner for Easter.

“I love cooking,” Blair said. “We all cook together for Easter. We have 16 people here. So I’ve got help.”

Blair declined to comment on whether she is working to have Bergeron compensate her for damages and medical bills. “I can’t get into that,” she said.

Blair said Norton Police and the Massachusetts Environmental Police interviewed her about the shooting incident two weeks ago as part of an investigation. She said she was expecting the State Police to interview her as well during the occasion, but said “they got called away on another incident that happened at the time.”

Blair said she is unsure of what’s going to happen with the investigation, but said she wants Bergeron’s hunting license to be revoked. Thus far, Bergeron has not been charged with any crime and has faced no penalty.

“I firmly believe there should be some type of consequence,” she said. “That is my belief. ... I don’t know what the outcome is going to be or has been.”

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Blair said she wasn’t going to make a judgement on whether Bergeron is receiving special treatment because he is a state trooper. “I’m not going to answer that,” she said.

Blair also responded to questions from some observers — along with Bergeron, as he is heard saying during the 911 call — about why she wasn’t wearing an orange hunting vest when taking the twice-daily walk that ended in her being shot. Blair said she wasn’t hunting so wasn’t required to wear one; that the private land behind her home wasn’t at all known for hunting; and that, most importantly, if Bergeron would have properly identified his target like a responsible hunter — rather than shot at a partially identified target, at what he believed was a deer’s tail — then it wouldn’t have mattered either way.

“I believe if he knew what he was aiming at, I believe he never would have shot,” she said. “I have never felt unsafe in those woods. I have never run into a hunter. I don’t ever hear gunshots back there.”

For Blair, it’s been a slow, painful recovery. Just last week, an infection sent her back to the hospital.

She spent two months in the intensive care unit at Rhode Island Hospital — during which she had 10 surgeries to address her wound — followed by a stay in rehab until Feb. 27. Blair now receives intravenous antibiotics every day while her husband redresses her wounds daily, along with frequent physical therapy work.

Since the moment she was shot, Blair resolved to fight. She recalled the moments of Dec. 31 lying on the ground in the woods, when she was overcome with fear and pain, but maintained the will to survive.

“I didn’t allow myself to close my eyes,” Blair said. “I just needed to remain conscious, and I was coherent the whole time. ... I felt that as long as I was awake I knew that I was alive.”